South Lanarkshire Council is committed to building the capacity of older people and facilitating improved health & wellbeing in older age. One of the ways we do this is through the Seniors Together Project. This is a community engagement project that is delivered by the Council and is called ‘Seniors Together in South Lanarkshire’ . It provides a collective voice for older people in the local authority area. Older people are encouraged to have their say on Council and other statutory and voluntary sector services that affect their lives and are involved in the decision making process. Seniors Together has a membership of over 300 older people from across South Lanarkshire. Many of these older people represent clubs and societies of older people. We have open events in the four main localities of our Local Authority area, and we produce electronic and paper information to ensure we can reach as many older people. In partnership with our Leisure Services Trust we have dedicated Leisure and Culture programmes for older people and a reduced rate membership for all of our health, fitness and cultural venues so that older people can easily access these services.
Seniors Together has been researching Age Friendly communities for a number of years and engaging with organisations such as the Centre for Ageing Better, and attending Webinars to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the WHO domains and how to make an Age Friendly community. They have presented plans, research results and ideas to South Lanarkshire Council and have now been accepted as members on the UK Network and have had a commitment from South Lanarkshire Council to becoming an Age Friendly Community. We have worked with Seniors Together through its network of older people groups and the South Lanarkshire Older Peoples Assembly, which is a locality meeting of older people representatives in four main localities held to give older people their say. We use Option Finder Technology to receive instant feedback from Older People and seek views using the Seniors Together magazine that is posted to the homes of older people.